Madison junior quarterback Clark Gray is back on the field after being hospitalized with a concussion from a hit he took in a game against Mitchell on Oct. 13. Photographed Oct. 30, 2017. (Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

MARSHALL – Yvonne Gray listened to the radio as she drove towards Madison High School’s O.E. Roberts Stadium.

She had worked late Friday evening and had to tune in to the local broadcast to catch the first half of the Patriots’ game against Mitchell on Oct. 13. The Mountaineers were leading, but Madison had the ball.

“Someone is down on the field, but it’s hard to see who it is,” Gray heard the announcer say. “Oh no, it’s junior quarterback Clark Gray. This is not good. He’s not moving. He’s not moving.”

Almost immediately her cell phone began ringing as friends in the stands called to say her son was hurt. No one seemed to know the extent of the injury.

“It’s absolutely the worst feeling you can have. I was breaking down but also trying to go as fast as I could and not crash,” Yvonne said. “I got a call from someone telling me he was headed to Spruce Pine Hospital. I drove there in record time.”

Clark said he remembers the hit.

“I got hit during a running play down the middle, and I folded up. I felt my back pop a couple of times,” he said. “I was in extreme pain. I just laid there. I was afraid to move. I thought I had broken my neck.”

Team doctors rushed onto the field to stabilize his head. He was placed on a stretcher and put into the ambulance. The wails of the siren resonated through the stadium as he was taken to the hospital.

“It’s the moment that every coach fears,” Madison coach Scott Eubanks said. “That one of your guys will get hurt like that.”

An MRI at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital showed Clark had a compression fracture in his vertebra and had suffered a concussion. Doctors believed he had actually sustained the compression fracture earlier in the season.

He would be okay, but the rest of his junior season was in doubt. He spent the next few days at home recovering, his head pounding from the hit.

“You could tell something wasn’t quite right with him,” Yvonne said. “He was a little off.”

Madison struggled the next week without Clark, losing 57-12 to Mountain Heritage.

“When he’s going, we’re going,” Eubanks said. “We’ve still got some talented guys, but without Clark, our offense just didn’t run the same.”

Before his injury, Clark had put together one of the best offensive seasons in Western North Carolina. The junior was the only quarterback to throw and run for over 1,000 yards and had produced over 60 percent of his team’s offense singlehandedly.

He knew for his team to have a chance at making the playoffs he had to come back.

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Madison junior Clark Gray runs a drill during practice on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. He is back on the field after being hospitalized with a concussion from a hit he took in a game against Mitchell on Oct. 13.(Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

“Not getting to play is the worst feeling,” Gray said. “I didn’t think I would be able to come back so soon, but I started feeling better, and If I was allowed to play, there was no way I wasn’t going to.”

Clark was cleared to play the next week against Owen.

When he walked out on the field he wore a new number - 14. His usual No. 4 jersey now hangs in his room, the fabric sliced down the middle where they cut him out moments after the injury.

“That’s my memorabilia now,” Clark said. “A good reminder to make the most of every moment.”

Clark scored his team’s three touchdowns in a 22-14 win over Owen, completing 9 of 13 passes for 110 yards and running for 110 yards on 20 carries.

“You wonder when a kid comes back from something like that, how he’s going to be,” Eubanks said. “As you can see, he didn’t even skip a beat. Every coach hopes they can have a kid as tough as Clark.”

Madison (4-6, 2-2) will need Clark to step up again this week when they travel to Polk County, in a game Eubanks said they “must win” to make the playoffs.

“I’ve told myself to forget about Mitchell and what happened,” Clark said. “It’s embedded in my head that I have to play well for my team and I have to win.”

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Madison junior quarterback Clark Gray is back on the field after being hospitalized with a concussion from a hit he took in a game against Mitchell on Oct. 13. Photographed Oct. 30, 2017. (Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

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